Bhubaneswar: Odisha government Monday transferred Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Communication, Dayal Gangwar, and appointed him as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Home Department with immediate effect.
A notification issued by the Home department said Gangwar, an IPS officer of the 1998 batch, was appointed as OSD in the department.
Official sources said that the 1998 batch officer’s name was embroiled in the GRP constable Soumya Ranjan Swain’s lynching case at Balianta on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar May 7.
Swain’s parents had alleged that their son was both physically and mentally tortured by Gangwar.
Swain’s family demanded that the IPS officer should come under the ambit of investigation. “The officer must be dismissed. Transfer is not a punishment,” Swain’s mother said.
The Opposition BJD had also raised questions on the alleged connection between the Balianta mob lynching victim and an Additional DGP-rank IPS officer. The BJD also alleged that Swain was working at the senior officer’s residence and gym instead of performing official police duties.
Referring to Swain’s mother’s allegation that the IPS officer owned several gyms in the city, BJD leader Lekhashree Samantsinghar sought clarification from the state government on how long the railway police staff had allegedly been deployed at the residence of Gangwar.
While demanding a CBI probe into the mob-lynching case, Swain’s parents had alleged that the senior IPS officer was one of the accused in the harassment of their son, who worked as a constable in the Government Railway Police (GRP).
They also alleged that the Crime Branch of Odisha Police, which is probing the lynching case, could not be neutral, as a senior IPS officer was accused of mental and physical harassment.
Earlier, the state government had placed four police personnel under suspension, disengaged two home guards and also transferred the Balianta Police Station inspector in charge of the mob-lynching case.
At least 15 people, including the prime accused, have been arrested in connection with the mob-lynching incident.
PTI
